ARME mining company plans to apply for mining rights for their proposed phosphate mine between Vredenburg and Saldanha.
CEO Adelaide Ruiters said in a recent statement the company successfully completed its exploration programme and now plans to go ahead with the mining rights application in 2018.
The Zandheuvel Phosphate Mining Project is located on four farms, Zandheuvel 126 and 124, Witteklip 123 Portion 61 (adjacent to Zandheuvel 124 and 126) and Yzervarkensrug, adjacent to Witteklip.
The farms are situated near the Lafarge stone quarry, between Vredenburg and Saldanha.
ARME plans to mine Zandheuvel first, then rehabilitate it, then Witteklip, then rehabilitate it and lastly Yzervarkensrug, which will then be rehabilitated. It is investigating setting up community agriculture projects on the farms once mining is completed. There will be only one mining rights application.
With regard to the water shortages in the area, Ruiters says her company has noted the situation with great concern, but has already been in negotiations with the municipality about alternative water sources.
A MoU was signed with Saldanha Bay Municipality to use 2 million litres of treated effluent from the Saldanha Waste Water Treatment Works. However, with water restrictions and other industry, like the local steel industry also interested in using purified treated effluent as an alternative water source, the mining company is also looking at different desalination options as an alternative.
The mining rights application will follow a public participation process, as per legal requirement, said Ruiters.
She made history in 2013 as the first coloured woman to receive individual prospecting rights for two farms in the Vredenburg area. She then established ARME, her mining company the Anglo American Sefa Mining Fund has 13% shares in.
